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Assuming, of course, that if Finland had to provide for its own defense (rather than relying on us), they would still have money left over for social programs.
by commandlinefan 7y ago
Assuming, of course, that if Finland had to provide for its own defense (rather than relying on us), they would still have money left over for social programs.
- Gravityloss 7y agoHow are you providing for the defense of Finland? Maybe you're a conscript in the Finnish armed forces?
- pjc50 7y agoAccusing Finland of not providing for its own defense is an insult to the memory of the Winter War. It's one of the few European countries that still has universal conscription!
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- aglavine 7y ago1. USA cuts military budget 2. Russia invades Finland. USA does nothing. 3. Homelessness in Finland peaks
- tappio 7y agoWhy would USA defend Finland as Finland is not part of NATO? The same way they defended Ukraine as Russia occupied Crimea and invaded East Ukraine?
- distances 7y agoFinland has always prepared to defend a Russian attack alone, for obvious historical reasons. Russia being a superpower, or trying to be at least, means the selected defence doctrine is to make an attack too expensive to be worth it. Definitely isn't depending on US military intervention -- last time around US was siding with the Soviets, after all.
- arethuza 7y agoWhy do you think Finland depends on the US - they aren't in NATO?
- commandlinefan 7y agoWell, that’s OP’s premise (which I do agree with). He says the U.S. spends 700 billion/year on defense, but needs less and that the rest is spent protecting other countries. There are 195 countries, so if that’s distributed evenly, we’re contributing about 3.5 billion/country/year, that they would each have to come up with if we stopped. Now, maybe it’s not evenly distributed like that - maybe Finland doesn’t rely on U.S. presence at all (but I think you, and they, would be surprised), but the point is that we’re indirectly subsidizing a lot of these social programs by providing military defense for a lot of these countries.
- arethuza 7y agoOne interesting fact about Finland that I learned from "The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner" by Daniel Ellsberg is that in the event of a "general war" the US attack on the Soviet Union was expected to completely destroy Finland and kill at least 100 million in Western Europe.